The Time Hopper

A Terrible Hiding Place

I came round in a large bedroom. It was eerily reminiscent of the one that I had been kept in the last time Obsidian captured me, weeks before for me and centuries past for him, but a little more updated. The bed was still four poster, and all the furniture looked like it belonged in a museum, but the draperies were much more modern. The walls were painted grey, and the wooden floor was polished to a bright sheen. As soon as I was awake, I pitched to my feet, hands raised and ready to fight. 

And then a wave of dizziness washed over me, and I immediately dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. I hit the ground hard, biting my own tongue, blood filling my mouth as my head spun and I groaned. Slowly, I flipped onto my back, staring up at the ceiling and trying to figure out what had happened. Clearly, whatever Felix had hit me with wasn't out of my system yet; I was having to actively stop myself from falling back to sleep. I hoped that Riley and the others had run away, and were now safely on the way to the sanctuary. 

Wait. 

Kat!

Immediately, I was back on my feet, and then I fell to my knees again. I retched, nausea curling my stomach into a tight knot as I spat bile onto the pristine floor. Not that I cared. I think once you're kidnapped, you're allowed to make as much mess as you can. Realising that walking around was probably a little beyond me at the moment, I crawled back to bed. Nope. Kat definitely wasn't on there. 

There were three doors in the room, and if it was the same layout of where I was held before, which seemed likely enough, there was a closet and a bathroom I could go in. It was stupid, I knew damn well that Kat wouldn't just be chilling in one of them, but I had to check. Because otherwise, I would resort straight to my old faithful plan of causing as much havoc as I could until they caved and brought her to me, and if she was in here I'd look like a right idiot. 

So, crawling to combat the wooziness, I went and checked the two adjoining rooms. Kat wasn't there. The clothes in the closet had been updated, but they were almost all dresses and skirts, very feminine and not really my style. The bathroom was just a bathroom, with no medications or razors. Even the top of the toilet back was fixed in place, which was a shame. In fact, on second inspection, everything in the room was reinforced, bolted down, or both. I could also see no real way of starting a fire. 

I leant against the bed, closing my eyes for a second as my vision blurred. Come on, Sadie, think of a plan. Get out of this room. Find Kat. Free her. Escape wherever we are, shake off anyone who comes after us, and meet the others at the sanctuary. Okay. I could do that, easy peasy, pudding and pie. I definitely wasn't trying to put off starting. It didn't seem possible. 

But I wasn't really the lie down and die kind of person. I got up as soon as my head cleared again, slowly this time, holding onto the bed post to steady myself. Once the dizziness subsided, I stumbled over to the door. Time to start making a ruckus until they let me out of this damn room. 

I grabbed the handle, ready to start rattling it, only for the door to open. It wasn't locked; it just swung open. I frowned, cracking it open and peeking out. There was no one in the hall outside, no guards, which struck me as very suspicious. I was also now certain that this was the same room in the same house that I had been in hundreds of years ago, modernised but barely changed. My hackles rising, I padded along the hallway quietly, listening for anyone coming this way. To the basement, if I could. It seemed likely that this place had a dungeon, and that Kat would be in there. It was my best guess, at least. 

I didn't even make it to the main staircase before I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. In a panic, I saw a statue tucked into an alcove and scrambled behind it, trying to hide in the too small space between the stature and the wall. Hopefully, whoever it was wouldn't be looking at anything very hard.